A message system closely related to email but in which the body of the message is presented as speech. Such systems may be implemented as extra features on a PABX system, using the tone-dialing features of the handset to control the addressing, storing, and accessing of the recorded speech. Alternatively they may be implemented as an extension to email by allowing the sender to present the body of the message as digitized speech, for later recovery by the recipient who will reconvert the stored form to an audio signal.